The boys and girls absolutely adored our Halloween sticky table art, and they’d recently requested to “play with some more of that sticky paper stuff”. I was happy to redesign that activity to have a Christmas theme. Personally, I love how this activity incorporated sensory play and process art in one fun package!

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I placed Contact paper along the length of one of the classroom tables, sticky side up. I secured it with tape to ensure it didn’t get dislodged easily. Then I placed the bits and bobs in a circular serving dish and let the kids get started! The materials in this activity could easily be changed depending on the ages and interests of the children, as well as what materials are on-hand.

How the Kids Played
I didn’t tell the kiddos anything prior to this contact paper art activity — well, other than, “have fun!” They jumped right in with gusto! Some of them simply spread the materials on the sticky paper to see if they’d remain stuck. Other children used the materials to create Christmas trees surrounded by presents.

A few of the children gave their tree trunks patterns!

There were also a few piles of the materials, of course! After making a pile of colorful corn, one of the kids noticed that only the bottom-most corn kernels stuck to the Contact paper. The kernels on top of the pile weren’t touching the sticky table, which meant they didn’t stick.

Another great observation the kids made related to the use of the felt and the sparkly pompoms. When they were re-positioning most of the items, there was no residue left behind. This wasn’t true with the felt and the pompoms, which caused exclamations of surprise from the kiddos! This led to an in-depth discussion of what sticky paper pulls and doesn’t pull.

Next time we create our Christmas contact paper art (and there will be a next time very soon), I think I’ll put out a few less materials. I think some of the children were a little over-excited by all of the choices!

Other Ways to Play
Here are 10 more ways to create Christmas contact paper art with children: